Holistic Diet to maintain your gut health during this Monsoon Season
The term ‘gut health’ refers to how well your food is digested and how it affects your overall health. We must realize that it is essential to maintain our mental health, physical health as well as the immune system. Diet, sleep, stress, and exercise are all factors that might have an impact on gut health. Healthy meal planning can help you avoid the stress of determining what to eat and promote intestinal health.
Gut health requires a “holistic approach.” Holistic medicine and health practices go beyond simply treating the physical symptoms of an illness. A holistic approach considers the whole person, including the body, mind, emotional health, nutrition, and lifestyle choices. Although it varies a holistic approach to health that may include both conventional and alternative modalities.
While diet has a significant impact on gut health, it is equally important to maintain stress management, good sleep, and regular sleep. Below are some tips focusing on a holistic approach to gut health that will help you in optimizing your digestion and overall gut health:
1. Modify your diet. The first tip for improving gut health is to change your diet by eating more plant-based whole foods and prebiotic foods like bananas, asparagus, apples and vegetables, and whole grains seeds, Try fermented foods high in probiotics, Reduce your consumption of refined sugars and red meat, Increase your intake of omega-3 fatty acids, which can be found in fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines)
2. Control your stress. One of the most effective ways to improve gut health is to manage stress. The gut-brain axis allows your brain to communicate with your gut, especially when you are stressed. This is why certain digestive conditions, such as IBS, can be triggered when a person is under a lot of stress or anxiety.
3. Reduce inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s natural response to an injury or infection, and it can be caused by a poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, and other lifestyle factors for a long period of time. Dietary patterns such as Reducing your diet of omega-6 fatty acids like soybean oil, corn oil, and chia seed and increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids like salmon, mackerel, walnuts, and chia seed. Controlling blood sugar levels by replacing processed grains and sugar with high-fiber whole grains, fruits, and vegetables supports overall gut health and can reduce inflammation.
4. Regular exercise. A regular exercise is a holistic approach to gut health and a natural way to boost healthy bacteria in your stomach. Exercising provides numerous health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer, blood sugar and insulin balance, increased mood and mental health, better sleep, stronger bones and muscles, and enhanced gut health.
5. Completely chew your meal. A basic holistic gut health remedy that is sometimes missed is completely chewing food. Chewing breaks down large particles into tiny ones, and the more you chew, the easier it is to digest. Chewing your food properly is one way to promote gut health, whether that means chewing 32 times or whatever number of chews is required for the meal you’re consuming. As soon as you start chewing, the digestive process begins.
Other than lifestyle changes here is a healthy and holistic 1-week meal plan for improving your gut health. It focuses on the consumption of meals that will enhance the development of beneficial gut bacteria, help reduce gut inflammation, and promote regularity. You can have any one dish from the options as per the availability of healthy ingredients at your home.
Morning: Eat a nutritious breakfast with fibre-rich foods to jumpstart your digestive system.
- Oatmeal with berries and flax seeds
- Idli sambhar
- Dhokla with mint chutney
- Ragi malt
- Blueberry, banana, and yogurt smoothie
- Yoghurt with granola and fruit
- Eggs any style with whole-grain toast
- Omelet with veggies of your choice
- coconut-papaya chia pudding — 1/4 cup of chia seeds, 1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk, and 1/4 cup of diced papaya
Lunch: Focus on getting plenty of veggies at lunchtime. Try to include at least three different colours on your plate.
- Black bean and roasted vegetable chapati roll.
- Grilled salmon with roasted sprouts (any) and sweet potato wedges
- Chicken and quinoa salad with almonds and dried cranberries
- 1 serving Roasted Veggie & Hummus Pita Pockets
- Curd Rice
- Vegetable pulao with murabba/kimchi
- Kadhi chawal with sabji
- Add two indian veg options
20 mins after lunch:
1 glass buttermilk with jeera powder/mint leaves
Evening Snacks
- Fresh fruit
- Raw veggies with hummus
- Nuts and seeds
- Hard-boiled eggs
- String cheese
- Yoghurt
Dinner: Eat a lighter dinner that is easy on your digestive system
- Soup with plenty of veggies Salad with grilled chicken or shrimp
- Steamed fish or chicken with quinoa or rice
- Make a stir-fry with protein of your choice, different coloured veg – e.g bean sprouts, pepper, broccoli, cabbage, carrots.
- Grilled chicken wings with spinach.
- Grilled chicken served with roasted carrots, beans, and broccoli.
- Dal khichdi with salad
- Rice kanji
If you want to maintain gut health, it is important to eat a variety of nutrient-rich foods. This meal plan includes plenty of fibre-rich, antioxidant-rich, and anti-inflammatory foods that will help support a healthy gut. So, go ahead and give this meal plan a try!
